Networking Site: Subdomain or Directory Structure

[ebuzzmaster]

This is my first post, so please be kind.

I'm working on a very specialized networking site where people can load information about what they do, including portfolio clips, etc., that they may want to share easily with other people.

The format I had planned to go with was a clean URL directory structure with the person's handle or name as the subdirectory, but someone suggested that a third level domain structure would be easier for users:

Directory Structure: www.domain.com/john-doe/
Subdomain Structure john-doe.domain.com

My question is whether there are SEO advantages or disadvantages to both the root site and individual profile pages by using the subdomain approach, when the profile page is one page rather than multiple pages.

The examples I have been reviewing are LinkedIn and BlogSpot - with BlogSpot using the subdomain approach.

[Pebbles]

Sub domains are sub DOMAINS, literally, meaning to search engines they are different sites.


P.

[ebuzzmaster]

Pebbles - thanks for your note. What I have seen is that Google is treating subdomains much more like subdirectories in the SERPS and Matt Cutts published about it here about a year ago Subdomains and subdirectories

So to clarify my question a bit, is there a penalty for a subdomain "site" that is only one page? I want the site to be as useful to users as possible, but would also like to make it SEO friendly for users profiles and the site to get good visibility.

[Pebbles]

Well even there he sez: "A subdomain can be useful to separate out content that is completely different. Google uses subdomains for distinct products such news.google.com or maps.google.com, for example"

And that's just Google, other search engines may be even more discriminatory.

Botton line a sub directory just says "site organisation", whereas a sub domain says "this is different from what's on the main site".

So there's your answer really.



P.

[wige]

Look at sites like Yahoo, Facebook and MySpace, compared to BlogSpot and Blogger. The first group has the pages as subdirectories (or just pages) whereas the blog sites give each user a subdomain. I think the difference here is content.

On the blog sites, each user is creating an entire web site on a topic, so the use of subdomains allows that content to be clearly distinguished by search engines, which still treat subdomains as seperate entities when looking at relevance (although less so when calculating link weight).

Sites that are profile-focused on the other hand tend to use the subdirectory method. Because the content is all related, this model allows the flexibility to expand the content users can have within their profile space, while allowing your site the ability to expand in other directions.

For example, if you want to expand profiles to include a seperate page for a business-style resume, you can do so easily by adding a page to the user's subdirectory. On the other hand, if your site really starts growing, to the point where users start creating profiles for artists, others for programmers, etc, you can use subdomains to divide these communities into segments with specialized pages specific to that group. Subdomains could also be used to seperate out other content, such as mobile capabilities, administration, etc. but keep it under your domain name.

[imvain2]

Just a note, there really isn't technical reason (other then not knowing the programming) that you can't use a subdomain with multiple pages.